New Beginnings
by BrownTownGrayDay
Summary: It's the Last day of school, and Miss Fowl lets the kids out early. But rather than go to his lab with Carl and Sheen, Jimmy Neutron opts to walk with Cindy home. What happens when things don't go as planned? Cindy proves to be a loyal friend in helping Jimmy over come. I don't own Jimmy Neutron, or any of the characters.


Jimmy was out on the playground of Lindbergh Elementary with his two best friends, Carl Wheezer and Sheen Estevez, waiting for the bell to ring, signaling school to start. Jimmy and the gang were going to take their end of the school-year finals. He knew that Sheen struggled in school, and Carl wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so he had slipped them both some of his book gum, hoping that they wouldn't be held back.

"Just chew the gum, Sheen, and you will know all you need to know to pass the test." Jimmy told his friend as Carl and Sheen each took a piece.

"Sweet!" Sheen exclaimed as he popped it into his mouth and started chomping away.

"The effects should wear off around noon, so there shouldn't be any side-effects like the last time you became a genius."

"Good! I don't want to be stuck being smart again. It's too much work!" Sheen chewed his gum noisily.

"You already gave me some," Carl interjected.

"Yeah, but you ate it..." Jimmy reminded him.

"And now my tummy's as smart as I am!" Carl patted his belly.

'Let's hope not,' thought Jimmy.

"I already told you that it should wear off during lunch, but I'd still like to examine you in my lab after school-just for safety. The gum isn't designed to be eaten, you know."

**Br-i-i-i-ng! **

The school bell rang, and all the kids in the playground headed into the school.

"Good morning, students!" Miss Fowl squawked as the students reluctantly took their seats. "Does anybody know what today is?"

"Friday?" Butch offered.

"That's correct, Butch, but what else is it?"

"The last day of school?" Cindy offered hopefully.

"Well, yes, that's also correct, Cindy; but more importantly, it's finals day! Bawk!" Miss Fowl said, sounding like a chicken laying it's first egg. The whole class groaned.

"Oh, cheer up, class! Just think! Tomorrow you'll be enjoying s-summer! And I'll be indoors grading all these papers..." she added with notedly less enthusiasm. "Ok, let's get this over with!" She passed out the papers and the class fell silent.

It felt like forever until the lunch-bell rang, and the whole class rushed to get away from their tests. Jimmy made his way through the lunch line, and sat down at a table next to Sheen and Carl.

"Hey, Sheen, how do you feel?" Jimmy asked his ADHD-afflicted friend.

"I don't remember one question on the test. I must be dumb again!" He said, more like a cheer. He started shoving food from his tray into his mouth.

"Hey, Carl, how about you? How do you feel?"

"What?" Carl asked absentmindedly. "Oh fine. Hey, Jimmy, this broccoli looks like a baby llama."

"Yep, you're back to normal." Neutron concluded as he took a bite into his burrito. It wasn't long enough before the bell rang again, and the trio made their way back to class.

"Good afternoon, children!" Miss Fowl squawked again as the children found their seats. "Because you all studied so well this year, correcting your papers was easy, and it's all done!" She passed out the papers to the students. Jimmy looked at his test and was immediately confused to see that Miss Fowl had marked the first three problems wrong.

"Miss Fowl? I think you graded my paper wrong." Jimmy objected. Carl leaned over and peered at Jimmy's paper.

"Hey! I got the same ones wrong!" Then, covering his paper, he accused, "Did you cheat off of me?"

"No, he didn't!" Sheen called out. "You took the smart gum, remember?" Then, realizing what that meant, he chanted, "We're as smart as Jimmy! We're as smart as Jimmy!"

"No, you're not, you dweeb! We all got the first three questions wrong." Cindy butted in.

"That's right, children!" Miss Fowl said as she kicked off her shoes and jumped into some sandals. "You all did very good, so good that correcting your papers was very easy! And as a treat you you all, class is dismissed! Bawk!" She screeched as she hung a towel around her shoulders and ran out the door. "Warm beaches, here I come!" Once outside, Miss Fowl jumped into her car and sped away.

"I guess this is a good way to end the year," Neutron told his two compatriots as they left the schoolroom and made their way across the playground. "But, Carl, I still need you to come over so that I can examine you for side-effects."

"Gee, Jimmy, I hope that doesn't take too long!" Cindy injected as she walked past the trio with Libby.

"It won't! But, why would you care?" Jimmy asked, obviously confused.

"Because I'm throwing a pool party, and you'd miss out if you stayed all day in that boring lab."

"Cind, what are you talking about?" Libby asked, also confused.

"Yeah, I thought last year you told us we couldn't come to any of your parties anyway?" Jimmy questioned, his interest showing.

"Well yeah, but that was last year," Cindy stammered. "And I wanted to, you know, start our friendship over again. You know, so that we don't waste half of the summer fighting and arguing like we did last year, you know?" Something seemed to be fishy about Cindy.

"I guess that makes sen-wait! We had a friendship?" Jimmy was caught off guard.

"Well why else did we spend so much time together last year?" Cindy asked. Something was really strange about her questions...but they did make sense.

"I guess you're right!" Jimmy finally concluded. "Could I arrive around four, after I examine Carl for side-effects?"

"Or we could walk together?" Cindy suggested. "That way you could come over right after we get home."

"Sure!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Carl doesn't appear to have any side-effects anyway." He quickly assessed Carl before he hurried over to Cindy, leaving Carl and Sheen behind. Cindy and he walked past Libby, who stood there with her mouth wide open. And that might have been an understatement, her jaw was almost to the floor!

"What's a matter, Libby?" Sheen asked her. This seemed to snap her out of her stupor.

"Uh-uh! No way! Cindy would kill me if I told you!"

"Tell us what?" Sheen prodded. "Our lips are sealed!" He made a zipper movement across his mouth.

"Nothing!" Libby said forcefully, like she was trying to hide something. "Let's go home."

As Jimmy walked home with Cindy, he felt his heart inside his chest speed up. It wasn't a long walk, nor was it difficult, still, he couldn't seem to control his heart. He didn't want to say anything to Cindy, she might think he was weird or something...which would mean no pool party.

'That is why he kept silent. That is the only reason,' Jimmy tried to convince himself. Cindy didn't seem like she was saying too much more than what she had said when they were with their friends leaving the schoolyard. The silence between them was deathly awkward, but the fear of making it even more awkward kept them silent.

"So, uh...glad we're not in class right now." Jimmy stammered out.

"Yeah, um...it's nice and warm." Cindy replied weakly. "Nice day for a pool party!"

"So...how long have you planned the party?" Neutron managed to get that much out of his gut.

"What? Oh! uh, y-you know...a while."

Just as they were crossing a street, Jimmy saw a truck out of the corner of his eye whizz straight towards them.

"Cindy!" He called. Summoning strength and speed he never knew of, he instinctively lunged forwards, pushing Cindy onto the curb. He felt a pain in his hip and legs. It came with such force that it threw him a ways down the street. Jimmy's head hit the pavement, and everything went black.

"Y-you know...a while." Cindy stammered out. It was hard to focus on anything other than the butterflies in her stomach. They were so distracting that it was all she could to focus on Jimmy over-

"Cindy!" The sudden noise startled her. She started to turn her head to see why Jimmy had called her name, but right then she felt herself get shoved violently to the curb. She turned her head again just in time to see a truck hit Jimmy's legs, spinning him in the air, his legs propelled forward, forcing his head into the pavement with a loud thunk. He bounced from the force of the truck, and landed on the curb in a crumpled heap.

Cindy heard a scream, her scream, as she watched in horror and shock, as Jimmy landed in a heap. She rushed over to where he lay as the truck skidded to a stop. Cindy carefully turned him over to see his face, scraped and bloody, and cradled his head in her lap. She stared down at his empty face until her vision blurred as they filled with tears.

"Jimmy!" She sobbed. "Jimmy, why?" A man rushed over.

"I called 911, they're on their-" he saw the boy, bleeding and bruised, wrapped in the girl's arms. "I just looked down for a second... It was only a moment..." his voice trailed off as he broke down and sobbed.

The police arrived and pulled Cindy from Jimmy. Cindy didn't want to leave him, but there wasn't anything she could do to resist. They pried them apart. They held her until the ambulance arrived and took Jimmy. Cindy didn't want them to take Jimmy, and she didn't want them to leave her, but the cop held her as the ambulance took him away.

As the door closed and sped away, Cindy uttered one pathetic sentence, "Jimmy, I never told you how I feel..."

It seemed like a lifetime before the doctor let visitors see Jimmy. Mr. and Mrs. Neutron had told Cindy what the doctor had told them. A shattered tibila and fibula, a cracked pelvis, two broken ribs, and his foot had been crushed by the truck. Bruising and cuts along his head, back and legs. And worst of all, head trauma.

Cindy had asked what that meant, but the doctors wouldn't know until he woke up. If he woke up. Because of the shattered tibila and fibula, the doctors had to amputate his leg, there just wasn't any bone to fix. His foot too was amputated, as bone shrapnel had blocked the artery and his foot died. Cindy couldn't help feeling she was responsible, at least partly.

If she hadn't distracted him, if they had stayed with their friends, if they had seen the truck... A thousand scenarios played out in her mind, torturing her. 'If only I could see him well, that would at least be enough!' She thought.

Finally, she was let into Jimmy's room. She saw him for the first time since he was pried from her and taken away in the ambulance. She bit her lip to keep from breaking down when she saw where his leg should have been. It was just so much!

She sat down in the chair next to his bed and took his limp hand in hers. Her lip wavered as she held it, so heavy and lifeless. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she began to relive those events. The sound of Jimmy's last word to her, her name. Her head turning to see Jimmy get hit by the truck. Jimmy bouncing off of the pavement and landing in a heap. All of it flashed through her mind.

The nurse that let her and the Neutrons in broke the gloomy silence. Whispering to Hugh, "She needs time with him. Please, wait outside the door." The three adults quietly left the room and closed the door.

Cindy was oblivious to the adults. She was seeing the events play through her head. Cindy's eyes overflowed with tears and she sobbed aloud. "Why was it you, Jimmy?" She asked, "Why did this happen to you?" Her sobbing overtook her and she dropped onto Jimmy's chest.

Unable to even speak, she mouthed, "I love you!"

Suddenly, she felt him take a shallow breath. Shocked by his movement, and hoping beyond hope, she looked into Jimmy's face and imagined she saw a small movement.

No, she did see a movement. It was small, almost too small to see, but it was there. The corner of his mouth ever so slightly moved. She stared at his face, feeling that if she looked away, the whole world would end.

Again, the corner of his mouth moved, and then his left eye twitched. Too hopeful to break whatever magic this was with breath, let alone speech, she sat there. Speechless, motionless, breathless. Her mind praying to any God, every God that would hear her. 'Please, Please, Please.'

Jimmy moved his head slightly, and then again, even more. And then he began to open his eyes. Hope filled Cindy's being as she gazed into the eyes of her true love. His eyes were glazed, blurred. He blinked several times trying to orientate himself, trying to make sense of the world. Jimmy opened his mouth and said the last word he had said before the whole ordeal.

"C-Cin-dy?"

"Jimmy?" She asked, hope and fear fighting for dominance in her voice. "Are you alright?"

"Wh-where am I?" Jimmy asked, confused. "What happened?"

"The accident?" Cindy tried. "Do you remember the accident?" Hearing voices, Judy and Hugh rushed back into the room. Seeing Jimmy, they began crying as the rushed to kiss him.

Still confused, Jimmy asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Jimmy." Hugh told him. "You've been in a bad car accident." Jimmy still seemed to be confused and in shock.

"I want to go home." He started to move around. Hugh put his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Jimbo, there's something you need to know." Jimmy was struggling to get out of bed, but not violently. He was much to weak for that. But his movement revealed that there was something wrong. His father continued, "The doctors, well they..."

With tears in his eyes, Jimmy's hand made it's way down down his leg until it felt the stump where his leg should have been.

"No!" He whispered eyes wide, almost unable to speak. "It's gone!"

The next few days went by slowly. All Cindy could think of are those three words Jimmy had uttered that day. "No! It's gone!" The scene played over and over in Cindy's mind. Jimmy's face, eyes wide in shock as he felt his leg. How he broke down after that. Both he and she had cried themselves to sleep that night.

His leg and foot weren't the only things Jimmy had lost on that day. He remembered Cindy's name and who she was, but that was it. He remembered his parents and Carl and Sheen and others, but his memories were gone. Like a file, he could remember people, but what they had done together, or the time they'd spent together just wasn't there. Nothing from the past few years.

Finally, Jimmy was allowed to go home in a wheelchair. Cindy spent day after day with Jimmy, trying to cheer him up by telling him of the memories that they had made together, to little avail. Of course, she didn't tell him everything, she tried to tell him of the happy times they had shared, or that she had gathered from Sheen and Carl. Partly purposefully, but also partly subconsciously, she glanced over the parts that they had fought or bickered.

'It's because I'm trying to cheer him up' she'd tell herself when she caught herself doing it. But another part of her didn't want Jimmy to remember the times they hadn't gotten along. She wanted to be his friend, as strange as that sounded. She needed to be his friend. And as days began to turn into weeks, she began to enjoy spending the time with Jimmy more and more.

Although, it was still so hard seeing him like this, depressed and miserable. She'd gotten him to laugh, and even to ask her to relate his life to him, but whatever happiness he would find always seemed to return to misery, sooner or later. This only made her even more determined to cheer him up, even if she was running out of ideas as the days went by.

"Let's go down to your lab!" Cindy suggested.

"I already tried that." Jimmy mournfully replied. "I can't get in with my wheelchair."

"Well send me down there, maybe I can get something for you!" Cindy tried helpfully." She tried.

Jimmy shrugged, "I don't think I can remember how to invent anything…"

"Well," Cindy retorted, "You won't know until you try! Come on, Jimmy! You can do it!" She gave him a friendly slug on the shoulder. Something about what Cindy said, or how she said it, seemed to make a difference. Jimmy's countenance started to brighten.

"Well, I guess there's no harm in trying. You never know, right?" Jimmy questioned.

"That's the spirit!" Cindy responded, eagerly. "Just make me a list of things you need from your lab, and I'll bring them up. We can work on the project together!"

"Okay, well, let me think…" Jimmy screened the mental contents of his lab. "Goddard!" He called to his faithful robotic dog.

"Bark! Bark!" Goddard came running to him from the house.

"Make a components list. Label it: Post Accident Invention Alpha. Mark I." He commanded his dog. "Industrial Steel, ten lbs. Lithium, four oz. Copper wire, ten yards…" After a long list, he had Goddard print it out and gave it to Cindy. He also gave her a strand of his hair to get into the lab.

The days past quicker as Cindy and Jimmy worked together on the invention. They both felt their emotional health begin to heal as they spent time together. Not quite as they used to, (Only Cindy knew that. She had been reluctant to tell Jimmy how often they had fought, so she had down-played it as much as she could.) but as they would from now on.

Cindy really enjoyed helping Jimmy work, seeing how his mind worked through problems. Slowly, Jimmy's blueprints began to take shape. It didn't seem long until Jimmy and Cindy had finished their first invention. And it was magnificent. Cindy strapped on the smaller invention to Jimmy's ankle as Jimmy strapped the larger one onto his knee.

He looked at Cindy, who smiled back at him, and took a step back. He clicked a button on his watch, and the two machines lit up and whirled to life.

"Here we go!" Jimmy slowly pushed himself up, the first time in more than a month. Slowly, he rose to his new feet, and took a step forward. The computer in his leg hadn't completed all the calculations, and he almost collapsed.

"Jimmy!" Cindy reached out and grabbed him, helping him to his feet again. She let go, and slowly took a step back. Jimmy took another step forward, and his leg whirled and adjusted to the movement. He took another step, and his foot adjusted. Jimmy limped around in a circle for a few seconds until his leg and foot adjusted to his movement, allowing him to walk normally.

"Jimmy!" Cindy said breathlessly. Jimmy looked over his shoulder at her. "You did it!"

"I couldn't have done it without you." Jimmy replied back. "We did it!" Cindy didn't forget about all the pain and fear. There was no way she could. But she could see that it would be alright. No matter what, they could figure things out. It all would work out alright.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I do have a Part Two coming up, I have about half of it written. I don't post too often, but I will try to remember to let y'all know here and on my profile when I add it. Still don't know if I will add it here as a new chapter or as a separate story. Feedback on the story is appreciated!

Sorry for re-submitting. I was reading through the story and noticed several grammatical errors that I wanted to fix, as well as several paragraphs that I had somehow skipped when typing. So I fixed them.

As for the comment about the Chrono-arch, I wish I had thought of that when writing the story, but in retrospect, I feel that not using it makes more sense. As seen in the series, when they accidently changed the past, it radically changed the future. So they wouldn't want something to change for the worse, especially as bad as the accident was. It was a great insight that I hadn't seen, though!


End file.
